I should add that a certain Shady Dame and I had our first date at a Raspberries show in Manhattan in 2007; they were promoting the Live on Sunset Strip album from whence the above clip derives. So you can imagine my surprise when said jeune fille told me yesterday that she'd saved the Raspberries button the record company (Ryko) had thoughtfully provided for the industry attendees that night. (Cue: Steve getting a little verklempt.)
I should also add -- just to annoy the less fortunate -- that I also saw the Raspberries in their early 70s heyday. At Carnegie Hall, if memory serves; they were flush from the success of "I Wanna Be With You" (the opening 12-string riff of which is still one of my favorite several seconds of recorded music ever) and, alas, wearing those dopey matching suits that kept them from being considered hip in that far away era. Come to think of it, they were actually the opening act for somebody else (I forget who). But they were very impressive, and in any case, what I remember most about the show wasn't their ability to reproduce the sound of their records live, but rather that they rolled two(!) Mellotrons onstage at some point and proceeded to surprise everybody with a killer rendition of -- dig this -- "Be My Baby."
Have I mentioned that this death shit is really starting to piss me off?
5 comments:
1/their carnegie hall show
https://boatagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-day-in-rock-history-raspberries.html
2/thinking about those who have gone before [and as the preacher said, to everything there is a season - and our age cohort is in that season now] and whom we shall follow at a time to be determined - i remind myself to accentuate the positive - the ways in which they have done has enriched my own experience - to quote a prayer recommended by mister rogers, who was imho a saint - "thank you, god"
The Raspberries appear on every Power Pop list, and I have a complete collection of their works, but I always wished their lyrics were a bit more mature. Then, Eric Carmen gave me that wish in his solo career, but without Wally Bryson and Jim Bonifanti, the "power" in his pop was gone. Still , as a fellow Clevelander, sad to see him go. (We'll ignore his later day politics for now).
I couldn't stand Carman's semi operatic voice which had more to do with Jay and The Americans than power pop.
Grumpy Captain Al
Eric Carmen solo was a bore
The Raspberries were classic
Hi Steve... Lucky you! It'd be great just to attend a pop/rock (or any) concert at that venue.
The Carnegie Hall show was a big deal for The Raspberries then and Eric had supposedly commented
he was really pleased with their performance there as one of their best and most memorable ever.
It is well documented that show took place on September 26th of 1973, a Wednesday. I believe the
other band that night was Stories. Now I wasn't there, so you are the real expert on all this.
Research shows this was (or close to it) their Set List from that show:
(1) Ticket to Ride (The Beatles cover)
I Wanna Be With You
(2) Ecstasy
(3) Let's Pretend
(4) Go All The Way
(5) Tonight
(6) Drivin' Around
(7) Be My Baby (Ellie Greenwich cover)
(8) The Loco-Motion (Carole King cover)
Encore: Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry cover)
Hope that stirs-up some further good memories for you! Thanks for your blog.
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